What is a safety plan for an event?
A safety plan is the document in which you show which risks come with your event and which measures you take to control those risks. It also describes who is responsible for what and how you act when something does go wrong, from an injured visitor to severe weather or an evacuation.
Don't confuse it with your running order. The running order is your operational planning by time (who does what, when), while the safety plan focuses on risks, scenarios and the safety organisation. Together they form your complete preparation, and a concrete, realistic plan often speeds up your permit application.
When is a safety plan mandatory?
There is no separate national law requiring a safety plan for every party. The requirement runs via your municipal event permit and via the risk classification that the municipality and safety region assign to your event.
In practice, a safety plan is almost always mandatory for B and C events (events needing attention and high-risk events), and sometimes for larger A events. For the smallest, low-risk activities it is sometimes enough to include basic arrangements in your application.
In addition, the Decree on fire-safe use and basic emergency response at other places (Besluit brandveilig gebruik en basishulpverlening overige plaatsen, BGBOP) applies. Under Article 4.22 you have to work out the basic emergency response and evacuation from 150 people at a place. For these numbers and thresholds: indicative (2026), varies by safety region and municipality.
- Always check the event policy of your own municipality and safety region: they determine the exact requirements.
- Assume you need a safety plan as soon as you go multi-day, serve alcohol, play loud music, continue into the evening or expect a vulnerable audience.
Risk classification A, B and C: how the municipality decides your category
Most safety regions work with the method from the Event Safety Guidance (Handreiking Evenementenveiligheid, HEV). Your event is assessed on three profiles, which together lead to a classification.
- Audience profile: the expected number of visitors, the make-up of the audience and characteristics such as age and whether alcohol or drugs are involved.
- Activity profile: the type of event and the activities that can create risk, for example loud music, fire, open cooking on gas or a procession.
- Spatial profile: the location, accessibility for emergency services, environmental factors such as water nearby, and the season or the weather.
Based on that, a class follows. A is a regular event with limited risks, where the emergency services often do not need to give advice. B is an event needing attention that usually calls for advice from the fire service, police and GHOR (the regional medical emergency response organisation). C is a high-risk event for which the emergency services draw up joint advice and a fully worked-out safety plan is standard.
The exact scoring and thresholds vary by region. Treat the classification as indicative (2026), varies by safety region and municipality.
The mandatory components of a safety plan
Which components are required exactly depends on your classification, but most safety regions ask for the same building blocks. In any case, include:
- Description of the event: activity, audience and spatial profile, with floor plan and times.
- Risk assessment: which risks logically follow from your profile, and a control measure for each risk.
- Audience profile: number, make-up and behaviour of your visitors, because that determines your crowd management and medical provision.
- Incident and evacuation plan: how you act during incidents and how you evacuate the site, by whom and with what means.
- Crowd management: how you steer visitor flows during arrival, dwell and departure, and how you intervene early when it gets busy.
- Emergency routes and escape routes with dimensions: emergency exits, escape routes and access routes for emergency services, with a capacity calculation.
- Communication: internal communication (radios, contact list, reporting line) and communication to the public during an incident.
- First aid and in-house emergency response (BHV): the number and level of responders, the location of aid posts and accessibility for an ambulance.
- Responsibilities: who the safety coordinator is, who decides on stopping or evacuating, and a clear contact list.
- Scenarios: worked-out playbooks for situations such as severe weather, extreme crowding, a fight, fire, a missing child and power failure.
Emergency routes, evacuation and dimensions
For the municipality and the fire service, the layout of your site is crucial. On your floor plan you show where the emergency exits, escape routes and emergency routes run, and that they are clear and wide enough for the expected numbers.
For larger (music) festivals, many regions expect you to work out a panic evacuation scenario: how you evacuate the site in a panic or emergency situation, by whom and with what means.
Concrete dimensions for widths, flow capacity and distances are prescribed by the safety region or municipality. Do not copy figures from examples on the internet, but request the applicable standard from your region: it is indicative (2026) and varies by safety region and municipality.
Match your medical provision to your risk. In the Veldnorm Evenementenzorg (the Dutch event medical-care standard), first aid forms the basis, with heavier levels of care as the risk rises. The GHOR advises on the number and level of responders and the location of the aid posts.
The role of security: a WPBR company with an ND number
As soon as you deploy event security, that must be through a recognised security company. Such a company holds a licence under the Private Security Organisations and Detective Agencies Act (Wet particuliere beveiligingsorganisaties en recherchebureaus, WPBR) and therefore an ND number, issued by Justis (the Dutch screening authority). Without that licence, a company may not offer security services.
You can easily check whether your supplier has a valid licence in the WPBR register of Justis. The police supervise private security officers. Always ask for the ND number and record it in your safety plan.
Security officers play a central role in your crowd management. They actively monitor the visitor flows, spot early where it is getting too busy and intervene by steering flows or opening extra passages. Describe their number, deployment and coordination in your plan.
- Note: hosts or stewards without a security task do not always fall under the WPBR, but genuine security tasks do. If in doubt, ask your municipality.
The safety plan and the event permit: how they connect
Your safety plan is not a standalone document, but an attachment to your event permit. For B and C events, the municipality requests advice from the fire service, police and GHOR, and they largely base that advice on your plan.
Handy to know: if you apply for an event permit, you often do not need to file a separate use notification under the BGBOP. If you provide the information needed for the use notification with your application, both may be combined in one form. A separate use notification must be submitted at least four weeks before the start.
Submit on time. The submission deadlines vary by municipality and, for higher-risk events, fall well before the date. So start gathering early: floor plan, contact list, contracts and your scenarios.
Because you gather many separate documents and versions in the run-up, it helps to keep your whole safety dossier and the associated documents in one central place. Festival.productions is built for this, so your plan, floor plan and contact list are always current and easy to find.
Disclaimer: this is general information and not legal advice. The exact requirements vary by municipality and safety region and can change. Always consult the official source and your own municipality before you submit your plan.